Projectile.



To llfwhom *it may concern l -1 Be it known that we, CHARLES VAN OIsE" WEELEE a citizen l.of vthe United States, and. resident ofthe city of Pittsburg, vState of Pennsylvania, and ALEXANDER GEORGE Mc- -UNITED sT-ATEs PATENT oFFiCEf CHARLES VAN OISE WHEELER, OF PITTSBURG, AND ALEXANDER GEORGE I/IC'KEN'NA, OF ,BRADDOOIL PENNSYLVANIA, 'ASSIGNORS TO THE FIRTH STERLING STEELIOOMPANYfA CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

l A515m. 875,023;

PROJECTILE. Y

' Application filed November 2, 1905. Serial No. 285.601.

KENNA, afcitizen of the :United States, and

"resident of Braddock, Pennsylvania, have invented 'certain new and useful Improvementsl fin Projectiles, of which the following is a specification, accompanied by drawings.

The invention relates particularly to cappedfprojectiles the penetrating power TheI object ofthe invention is to improve land range without weakening the shelL The invention-isalso applicable to a cer tain e'xtent to dummy or'practice shells havmg the same contour, the same weight and `same location vof the center of gravit and preferably also', the same distribution o mass in all respects as the capped shell but made or cast in a single piece and notphardened or i finished with the same -nicety as the armor piercing shell. .but designedto have exactly thesanierange `and trajectory, as, the armor .piercing shell, thus indirectly involving' as an 4imitationthe 'same distribution and consej quentlythe saine problem as regards shape' requiredto'penetrate as the armor piercing It is knowm that a cap of relatively .me `the enetrating powersof the projectiles, and it. as been supposed by some persons 4highly skilled in the art, that ,Y was caused byireason of'a lubricating actien of. thesoftmetal. Other persons have assumed'tligat .it-was caused, atleast partly, byV the-lateral support which Vthe cap gives to the tip of the shell at impact. A third theory advanced but apparently since abandoned, is that the cap assists in penetrating because it makes impact with the plate slightly before the projectile and depresses the plate by its mmncntum, so that the tip of the projectile shall attack the plate at amoment when the resisting powersofthe plate are lessened. j In 'the attemptto test thislast theory and possi?` bly'toimprove the penetrating powers of the' l capped projectile, tests were carried out `un- -der the auspices of the United States Goveminent, with an elongated cap which, by

" reason of its length and the position of its -elastic yielding of the plate before to the. inertia. of theplate.

the projectile, should .deliver its blow further in advance and'allow additional time for the the projectile tip should reachv it; It 'was hoped that this would in effect correspond with the delivery 'of two successive VAblows, and to Patented :seeehr-907g increase this effect, tests were triedwith a 'ca-p, the forward end of-whichwas hollowsoy that the iirst blow. would be caused by the hollowv portion, succeeded .by j an increasel of pressure' upon the plate'immediately thereafterproduced by the heavier-solid portion I I of the cap, before the hard tip of the projectile reached plate. These tests, however,

caused the abandonment, or suspensiornof -any attempt to so modif `the cap.

l The present invention 1s based u on adis- -covery that was made' by us an brought about by tentatively adopting. the Vhypothesis that it is not so much the timefinterval that ifs-important between time ofthe blowstruck by the .cap and thev blowstruck by thel projectile'. but rather the relative momen-' tum ofthe two bodies. andy theiry relationship gravity ofthe presentstandard :cap is not farv from the tip of the shell itself andthe blow delivered bythe cap cannot therefore much.

precede the. impact of the tipofsthe projecte shell point should strike the plate as the plate is moving backward Awith .the momentum derived from the cap., :this should produce a greater disru tive and- .penetrating'eifect upon the `plate t an ifthe shell were to strike the plate when already dished or forced .back by the mass ofthe cap.v

-Notwithstandmg therefore that it had been shown that an increasedweight` andprovlonged length ofcap was entirely unsuccessful, we conducted tests to discover whether The center. off

blows ywould improve the penetratingpowers of the combined ,cap andyprojectile.

A" series (of 'successful experiments was Y made with caps of a size and Weight much ,greater inrelation to thew'eight of the :shell thanzwas considered practicable before: our

invention. The penetration of the shells so capped was greatly increased. While the most advantageous relative Weight ol the cap andthe shell were foundto vary to some extent with the size of the shells, We adopted as a minimum formula C C bei-ng the Weight of the cap and W that of the uncapped shell, both weights being expressed -in pounds. Our experiments satisfied us that this minimum cap weight could well be exceeded 'titty percent. in large shells; the surprising result bein that the increase in the we' ht of the cap lar beyond the necessities o mere lubrication and mere mechanical lateral support ci the tip at impact, With the compensating loss of weight in the shell itself, improves instead ot' detracts from the penetration of the shell, notwithstanding ithat the 'vis vita of the hard shellitself is inaterially lessened. Further experiment however indicated that these heavy caps as first tried by us, and of the ordinary outline substantially cylindrical for the greater part of their length, were open to the objection of somewhat reducing the distance or range to which the shell could be thrown with a given initial velocity. W e then adopted a hy' pothesis thatit was not the displacement of' mass or center of gravity but more the effect produced in the contour that detracted from the range, and proceeding and experi1nenting on such lines we have invented an im proved cap and capped shell and correspondmg dummy shell, as follows: le have devised a cap which in its best form is not less than the minimum relative weight given above, and is of Jfrustc-conical or other taper form for atleast the greater part of its length and We have found that this form of heavy cap is of particular advantage in combination with a shell having a long ogival point,

say, with a radius of longitudinal curvature between 2.25 and 4 times the caliber of the shell and dpreferably 2.5 times such caliber, as pointe out in U. S. Patent No. 721,487,

granted to us and dated March 24, 1903.

In the accompanying draWingsFigure 1 represents `in longitudinal section a shell with a cap embodyin our invention. Figs. 2 and 3 represent mo ilied forms ot both the shell point and the ca A Referring to liig. 1, 1 designates the body 2 is the cap shown as having the usual blunt point '21, tapered or conical portion 22, and cylindrical rear end 23. The cap 2 is .shown as secured to the shell point 11 by means ol' a curved 'rod 3 occupying registering annular grooves 12 and Z4 on the shell and cap respectively. This manner of securing the cap on the shell is, described in U. S. Patent No. 748,827, granted on our application and dated Jan. 5,1904. It is obvious lhat any other method may be employed il' il' provide@ cap. Other tests have' as clearly the requisite security of attachment of the ca to the shell.

nFig. 2 the shell is of the fonn shown in Fi 1, the cap bein approximately semielliptical in longitu inal section. Fig. 3 shows a shell of shorter tip, and a cap'ofa somewhat similar outline. The mass of the cap is in both cases 'within the limits above given.

We make no separate illustrations showing the application of our 4discovery to dummy or practice shells since these may be similar in all res Jects With the exception that they may be l nished with less accuracy and less conse uent expense, or indeed may be cast with ille cap and shell in one piece; in which latter event the cap cannot be weighed, but its weight can be calculated from its contour and section onthe assumption that the contour of the ogival point' of the shell proper extends into the cap precisely as it does when the shell and cap are separate and distinct. V

It is of course understood that We do not give our theories as to the cause of the better effect of impact as being anything more than hypotheses, but am le and repeated tests have demonstrated t e superior penetration and greater range of our shell with heavy shown that the heavy cap of truste-conical, or tapered form does not diminish the effective range of the shell.

What we claim is:

1. A projectile having a cap of a weight 40o u 100 (W4 beine, the weight of the. uncapped projectile and the weights being expressed in ounds.)

2. A shell having a cap o a Weight not less uncapped projectile, the weights being exressed in pounds) and of truste-conical crm.

3. A shell having a point the radius of curvature of the base portion of the point of which is not less than 2.25 times its caliber surmounted by a cap of a weight not less than -g'i-QQ (W being the Weight of the uncapped projectile, the weights being expressed in pounds) and of truste-conical forni;

4. A shellhaving a point the radius of curvature oi' the base portion of the point of which is not less than 2.25 times` its caliber surinountcd by a cap of a weight of not less than 490. (W being the Weight of the 2. not less than than expressed from rear (W being the weight of the- 5. A capped projectile comhinh'g an armor -in contradistinction to the heretofore known piercing projectile and an attached cap upon or assumed eect of lubrication.

the point of the said pro'eetle, thefsaid cap exceeding the weight zml-50400 where Wis y the vweight of the uncapped projectile,

whereby the momentum-o impact substantially in advance of. the 4projectile itself ma materially aiect the re- 10 sisting powers o the plate to the projectile the said cap vat Tn `testimonyr whereof we have signed this specication in the presence of two subscrib` ing witnesses.

i CHARLES VAN OISE WHEELER.

. Witnesses:

-^ E. .B. WHEEDEN, A

F. G. HARRIsorL j ALEXANDER GEORGE MGKENNA., 

